Parents are always on the lookout for television shows they can enjoy with their children.
Every now and then, however, parents will make a mistake and allow their children to watch something which is not appropriate.
Such was the case with Redditor gay3435, whose mistake found her getting in hot water with both her wife and her daughter’s school.
Unsure if her lapse in judgement was worthy of the wrath she received, the original poster (OP) took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), asking fellow Redditors:
“AITA for playing an inappropriate TV show for my 6 year-old daughter?”
The OP filled Redditors in on how choosing a show based purely on its title proved a fatal mistake.
I [31F[emale]] played a show called ‘The Morning Show ‘for my daughter [6F].”
“I was looking for a new show that we could watch together, and I stumbled upon this one while looking through our streaming services.”
“Based on the title, I thought the show would be a fun/perky show about morning news, but it wasn’t. It’s about a crime, Jennifer Aniston, and has a lot of cussing and swearing.”
“I realized about 30 minutes in that it wasn’t appropriate for my daughter and turned it off.”
It was 30 minutes too long for the OP’s wife, however, and their daughter learned a new word or two from those 30 minutes.
“My wife [33F] is really upset with me, which is understandable as our daughter shouldn’t have been watching that.”
“It definitely is my fault for not double checking the maturity rating/subject matter, but it was an honest lapse in judgment.”
“What my wife is the most angry about is that our daughter heard the “T” word on the show and repeated it at school to a classmate she doesn’t like.”
“This resulted in a call from my daughter’s teacher and a disciplinary warning.”
“I apologized to my wife, but she’s still upset with me because our daughter will never ‘unsee’ the show.”
“I told her that she’s only 6 and it’s likely she’ll forget that this ever happened.”
“Still, my wife thinks it was irresponsible of me to play a show like that, even though I did it on accident.”
“Am I the a**hole here?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they felt the OP fell in this particular situation:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
If not all Redditors were comfortable in calling the OP the a**hole in this situation, there was a general consensus she was heavily at fault.
Many agreed the OP should have read the show’s description and checked its rating before she started watching it with her daughter.
“You really should have checked the show better. Glad you didn’t show her Happy Tree Friends…” – RozenMay.
“YTA.”
“Possibly unpopular, but I don’t see how you let your kid watch something you knew nothing about.”
“You didn’t even check the rating?”
“It reminds me of a mother I knew who ranted about how ‘Princess Mononoke’ was violent and totally inappropriate for kids.”
“Yeah? It’s not a kids’ movie.”
“It was her job to check it out before she took them to see it.”
“Lesson learned, I hope, and it’s not like it’s a mortal sin.”
“But I don’t blame your wife for being annoyed.” – Plotina
“Soft YTA.”
“Mistakes happen but I don’t know how you thought the morning show would be ok for a six year old to watch.”
“Let’s say it wasn’t vulgar, but it would be boring for them.”
“All I can say is review a show before sitting your child in front of it” – Pineapple_Wagon
“I don’t know, screening to ensure your child is watching appropriate content really isn’t that hard for most adults.”
“She’s 6, sit down and watch a kids show with her.”
“Does it have to be something you might want to watch as well?”
“I don’t now how many shows I’ve sat through which held little interest for me but was part of raising three kids.” -Liesthroughisteeth
Others felt 30 minutes was definitely too long to keep watching before they finally stopped.
“ESH but you a bit more so.”
“You watched for 30 minutes before you realized it was inappropriate? C’mon.”
“But your wife is being really dramatic.”
“I’m sure she’s embarrassed and she was right to be somewhat mad, but your kid will survive learning the T* word at six.” – Desertdreamsinblue
“I’m inclined to say YTA.”
“I mean this all comes down to how long you let it run for when it became clear it wasn’t child appropriate.”
“We all make mistakes and put the wrong thing on, but the first S/F/C/D bomb that gets dropped and the show is getting paused for me to at least check online, if not stopped immediately. “
“30 mins and ‘lots of swearing’ makes me think you left it on for way too long.” -IamSando
“YTA – its about sexual misconduct in the workplace, It’s rated TV-MA for language, and they start talking about sexual misconduct 8 minutes in.”
“You should know better than to be randomly picking shows for your six year old to watch based on titles on a pay tv service.”
“She will never unlearn that word.”
“It got too much of a reaction.” – AModel3Owner
“YTA for how long you let the show play.”
“30 min? I mean c’mon, you had to have some inking after the first 5 minutes that the show wasn’t age appropriate.” – Darkingnight
“YTA, it was irresponsible and now your daughter has suffered the consequences.”
“Surely there was an age rating before you played it, and surely it shouldn’t have taken you a half-hour to figure out it was inappropriate?”
“You messed up and you owe your wife an apology and your daughter a discussion about the language she heard and why she shouldn’t use it.” – grecianviolet
“ESH.”
“You should do the are minimum and check the rating before viewing with your daughter and I honestly doubt it took 30 minutes to realize it was not a kids show.”
“But you made a mistake and your wife needs to accept your acknowledgment of that and let it go. Your daughter is not going to be kept out of a good college because of the T-word.” – saurellia
Indeed, in this day and age where streaming services have designated sections for children, how the OP came to choose The Morning Show, well known for addressing toxic, sexually abusive behavior in the workplace, is curious.
Here’s hoping it didn’t leave their daughter with too many questions.
Though if it did keep their daughter’s attention for those 30 minutes, one could at least argue they are one 6-year-old with highly refined taste.